The Constant Need to Innovate

Two articles about innovation. One about types of company that innovate. The second asking us to think radically about how to leverage coming technology.

Understand the Source of Innovation

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published an article questioning whether investment in R&D is generating innovation, productivity and economic growth, as has been assumed to be the case. While the total R&D spend in the US rapidly increased over the last four decades from 2.2% of GDP to 3.4% and private R&D spend rose from 1.1% of GDP to 2.5%, these benefits have slowed.

However, over the past two decades, the proportion of the population involved in patent production nearly doubled in the US, while productivity growth fell by half.